Vignettes
by SecretAgent12
Summary: vignette - noun - a brief evocative description, account, or episode Secret Santa for BlueIce RedFire


**Hey worldwide web,**

 **This is a Secret Santa gift for BlueIce RedFire! Happy Holidays :D**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

"Hi-yah!" Olivia cried, swinging the Killing Edge towards Donnel's neck. The Hero ducked and deflected the blow with his silver sword. The sound of metal on metal began to fill the large coliseum. Olivia and Donnel continued to fight with their swords, hopping around and spinning to block one another's hits. The Dancer turned Assassin did a backflip over Donnel's head and, seeing a weak spot, slashed at his wrist.

"Gah!" Donnel grunted as his sword flew out of his hand, his wrist protected by his thick armor. The silver blade wedged itself in the floor of the arena. Olivia charged towards him, her blade glowing as Killing Edges frequently did.

" _I didn't want to do this!"_ Olivia whimpered, bringing up her blade and bringing it down swiftly onto Donnel. The farm boy barely had enough time to throw the shield that was normally on his shoulder into the air. He dove to the side as Olivia slashed the shield to ribbons. When she was done, she fell to her knees and began to cry.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong?" Donnel asked, the adrenaline rush beginning to subside. He knelt next to his wife and held her shoulders. "Why are you cryin'?" Olivia was known to cry when she got flustered, overwhelmed, pretty much every emotion you can think of, but he'd never seen her get so flustered during a practice fight.

"I almost hurt you," she gasped through sobs. "I would have killed you and then I'd be all alone and the Shepherds would be down a member and they'd all hate me and I'd have no friends and just be some stupid failure."

"Easy, easy," Donnel said, rubbing her back. "That wouldn't have happened, I got outta the way just in time. So no need to cry." He helped Olivia to her feet and the two of them walked out of the training arena.

"Maybe I should just go back to being a Dancer," Olivia sniffled as she walked with her husband through the tents of the Shepherd's camp. "I won't be as likely to hurt anyone. Or maybe I should just pack my things and leave altogether."

"Don't go sayin' stuff like that," Donnel said, taking Olivia's hand. "Robin made you an Assassin 'cause he knew you were a good fit for the job." They made their way to a campfire where a couple of the kids were hanging out. It had taken some getting used to, but eventually all of the kids that had come from the future had been rounded up and were part of the Shepherds. Olivia and Donnel's son, Inigo, was sitting around trying to flirt with Severa, Cordelia and Stahl's daughter.

"They all look so happy," Olivia sighed. Donnel rubbed her shoulder.

"This is why you should stay," he whispered. "They need you, Inigo needs you, heck I need you!" He put on his puppy-dog face. "You wouldn't want to let me go off in to battle on my own now would ya?"

"Never!" Olivia gasped. She then smiled, catching his point. "I'm so lucky to have found you Donnel. Promise me you'll never leave."

"I promise," Donnel whispered, wrapping his arms around her.

Inigo turned and looked over his shoulder. "Mom, Dad, not in front of my friends!" He groaned, his face turning red.

Severa laughed. "Maybe you should take some kissing tips from your dad. Naga knows you need them." She then turned quiet, her face getting as red as Inigo's as she realized the implications of what she had just said.

* * *

"Darling, if you must insist on letting our little boy run about with the rabble, can you at least make sure he stays as far away as possible for _her_ daughter," Maribelle asked her husband from within the tent they shared.

Lon'qu looked up from the letter he was writing. "Isn't Brady older than you?"

Maribelle gasped. "You don't know our own son's age?!" She looked around for her parasol to swat Lon'qu with, but couldn't find it.

"I remember he's a boy," Lon'qu pointed out. "Most of the time anyway. And who's the 'her' in this situation?"

"That scantily dressed Dark Mage, Tharja," Maribelle whispered. "Her daughter, Noire, has been tramping around our son for weeks now. Could you imagine what would happen if they got married?! Our name would be ruined."

"Brady doesn't exist in this timeline yet, I think our name would survive," Lon'qu said dryly, looking back down to the letter. Maribelle just gave a little tutting noise that meant she wasn't done with the conversation. "What do you want me to do? Go and talk things over with Tharja?"

"That sounds like a splendid idea," Maribelle said, clapping her hands together. "Let me know how it goes."

"That was a joke," Lon'qu said in alarm. "You know I don't pay enough attention to the women of this camp, I probably don't even know which one Tharja is."

Maribelle sighed. "Then why don't you talk things over with Henry? He's Noire's father and I'm sure he'd listen to reason."

Lon'qu sighed. "Fine, I'll go talk to him, but no promises it'll go well."

The conversation actually seemed to be going pretty well. Henry hadn't tried to set Lon'qu on fire yet, so that was a good sign.

"So Noire's got a crush on your kid?" Henry asked, doubling over with laughter. "That's hilarious!"

"Maribelle doesn't seem to find it that funny," Lon'qu said curtly. "She wants your daughter to stay as far away from Brady as possible."

Henry pouted mockingly. "What, does she not think Noire's good enough for him?"

"That's exactly what she thinks," Lon'qu said. "Er…no offense."

"None taken," Henry chuckled. "It's a shame, Noire really likes him. What would happen if she saw them together?"

"I assume it would be an event so catastrophic that nobody in Ylisse or Plegia would survive," Lon'qu said simply.

"Oh really?" Henry said slyly. "Nyeh heh heh."

A few days passed and Lon'qu actually forgot about the discussion with Henry. Maribelle had been satisfied with the result and there had been no sign of Brady and Noire together. After Lonq'u had eaten breakfast he noticed that several of the Shepherds were crowded around his and Maribelle's tent.

"What's going on?" Lon'qu asked as the crowd of chuckling Shepherds cleared a path so he could see. What he saw made him terrified.

Plastered all over the tent were pictures of stick figures in various, compromising positions, but for heads were cartoonish faces of Noire and Brady. Lon'qu looked around frantically. Maribelle hadn't seen yet, thank god. Maybe there was something he could do.

"I say, that was the most irresponsible thing I've ever seen him do," he heard Maribelle say as she turned around the corner to where the tent was. She was walking with Lissa and listening to a story she had just told about Owain. Lon'qu dashed to her and grabbed her by the shoulders. Maribelle gasped. "Lon'qu?! What has brought about this irrational behavior?"

"Nothing," Lon'qu said quickly. "It's just…it's our…anniversary!"

Maribelle raised an eyebrow. "We've been married for four months, how is it an anniversary."

"Uh…in Chon'sin we celebrate anniversaries very four months. It's tradition," Lon'qu lied. "So I am taking you out to the nearby village and buying you a present to symbolize my deepest affections for you."

Maribelle blushed. "Well Lon'qu, I do _love_ presents. I suppose that's a good idea. But really, I must change into something more proper." She managed to get away from Lon'qu's grip long enough to see the tense. She froze and her mouth hung open.

"Do you like the decorating I did?" Henry asked, appearing out of now where. "Your hubby and I had a chat about what you'd like best."

"I'm going to kill you," Lon'qu whispered.

"Not if she kills you first, nyeh," Henry giggled before dashing away, Lon'qu hot on his heels.

"LON'QU!" Maribelle wailed.

* * *

"Oh mother," Severa said in a sickeningly sweet voice. Cordelia turned around and saw her daughter holding a large rolled up piece of parchment. It was old and had something spilled on it, but the sight of it made her shiver. "Guess what I found under your bed?"

"Oh," Cordelia said, not really sure what to say. "I wonder what it could be." She took a few steps closer to Severa. "Please don't try and start something," she whispered. "Just give me that poster and we'll forget this ever happened.

"Did you make that naked picture of Chrom yourself or did someone else do it?" Severa asked, unrolling it lightly so a certain prince's head was visible. Cordelia began to blush as she remembered her old crush.

"Frederick made it actually," she mumbled.

"Ew Gerome's dad?!" Severa cried, a little too loud. A few people around camp gave them weird glances before going back to their business.

"He was trying to get new recruits and thought these posters would…er…help," Cordelia said awkwardly.

"Oh," Severa said. "That makes sense. Because there's no way Chrom would want _you¸_ but he'd definitely want new recruits. Thanks Mom for clearing that up." Cordelia twitched at the jab from her daughter, but ignored her.

"Shouldn't you be crushing Inigo's self-esteem or something?" Cordelia asked with an exasperated sigh.

"Well I was going to do that," Severa admitted, "but then I decided snooping around your room would be more fun. And then I found this. I wonder what Daddy would think if he knew you had this under your bed the whole time you've been married."

"You wouldn't," Cordelia said, lunging forward to take the poster, but Severa dodged and waved the poster high in the air. "Severa, I honestly forgot about that poster, and I got it _before_ I married your father."

"Got what before you married her father?" Stahl asked jokingly, wrapping his arm around Cordelia. "Sorry I didn't come sooner, Gaius is sick so there was a whole extra helping of pancakes that nobody was going to eat." He then grinned. "I still have some syrup on my lips if you want to-"

"Okay ew, ew, ew, ew, ew!" Severa cried. "Take back your damn poster, just please don't do that in front of me!" She threw the paper into Cordelia's hands and dashed away.

"What's up with her?" Stahl asked, slightly concerned for his daughter.

Cordelia just laughed. "Oh, just a little mother-daughter conflict. Nothing to worry about. What was that you were saying about syrup?" Stahl smirked and Cordelia began to kiss him.

Later that night, when Stahl and Severa were both asleep, Cordelia pulled the poster out from under her bed and slipped out of the tent. She snuck to the outer edge of camp where a figure was waiting for her. It was Owain.

"You requested to meet here?" He asked. "My sword hand twitches with curiosity."

Cordelia nodded. "I need you to destroy something for me." She handed him the poster.

"It shall be done milady," Owain promised.

"Thank you," Cordelia nodded. "We never speak of this again."

"Deal," Owain said before running off. Cordelia sighed with relief and headed back to her tent. She was glad that was over.

Owain knew he should have destroyed the poster the second he had left Cordelia, but his sword hand was twitching with curiosity, not destruction. So he sat down on his bed and unrolled the piece of paper. He gasped as he saw its full content. "Uncle Chrom?!

The next day, Owain darted around nervously through camp. The poster was hidden safely up his sleeve, but he needed to find someone he trusted to share this deep, dark secret with. "Psst…psst…Cynthia!"

The Pegasus Knight turned around and raised an eyebrow. "Owain what are you doing over there?!"

"Keep your voice down," Owain cried. "I have terrible news. Chrom is being blackmailed!"

Cynthia gasped. "Blackmailed? By who?"

"I'm not sure," Owain explained, "but what I'm about to show you is top secret. You must never tell another soul. This information could ruin Chrom's career as leader of the Shepherds. Maybe even as exalt. I'm trusting you because you and I both know that this world needs heroes." Cynthia was blushing now, not that Owain was taking any notice. He slowly unrolled the poster.

"AH!" Cynthia screamed, punching Owain in the face. "That's not funny you pervert!"

Owain hit the ground, grabbing his nose. "Cynthia I'm being serious." Cynthia was already walking towards Chrom. "Cynthia come on don't do this!" He sighed and began to chase after her. "Cynthia you of all people should understand that we have to bring the person behind this to justice!"

"The only person being brought to justice today is you! I'm telling Chrom!" She turned to run toward the leader of the Shepherds, who happened to be walking with his wife down the same row of tents as the two future children. "Chrom you won't believe what Owain has!"

"Uncle Chrom don't listen to her!" Owain shouted.

Chrom watched the scene unfold as Cynthia and Owain raced towards him. He rolled his eyes. _Kids._


End file.
